Indoles 2 + 2 + 2 cycloaddition reactions

Chapters 9, 10 and 11 describe methods for substitution directly on the ring with successive attention to Nl, C2 and C3. Chapters 12 and 13 are devoted to substituent modification as C3. Chapter 12 is a general discussion of these methods, while Chapter 13 covers the important special cases of the synthesis of 2-aminoethyl (tryptaminc) and 2-aminopropanoic acid (tryptophan) side-chains. Chapter 14 deals with methods for effecting carbo cyclic substitution. Chapter 15 describes synthetically important oxidation and reduction reactions which are characteristic of indoles. Chapter 16 illustrates methods for elaboration of indoles via cycloaddition reactions. 

Synthetic Elaboration of Indole Derivatives using Cycloaddition Reactions... 

Two types of cycloaddition reactions have found application for the Synthetic elaboration of indoles. One is Diels-Alder reactions of 2- and 3-vinylindoles which yield partially hydrogenated carbazoles. The second is cycloaddition reactions of 2,3-indolequinodimethane intermediates which also construct the carbazole framework. These reactions arc discussed in the following sections. 

A large number of pyridazines are synthetically available from [44-2] cycloaddition reactions. In one general method, azo or diazo compounds are used as dienophiles, and a second approach is based on the reaction between 1,2,4,5-tetrazines and various unsaturated compounds. The most useful azo dienophile is a dialkyl azodicarboxylate which reacts with appropriate dienes to give reduced pyridazines and cinnolines (Scheme 89). With highly substituted dienes the normal cycloaddition reaction is prevented, and, if the ethylenic group in styrenes is substituted with aryl groups, indoles are formed preferentially. The cycloadduct with 2,3-pentadienal acetal is a tetrahydropyridazine derivative which has been used for the preparation of 2,5-diamino-2,5-dideoxyribose (80LA1307). 

Benzo[Z)]furans and indoles do not take part in Diels-Alder reactions but 2-vinyl-benzo[Z)]furan and 2- and 3-vinylindoles give adducts involving the exocyclic double bond. In contrast, the benzo[c]-fused heterocycles function as highly reactive dienes in [4 + 2] cycloaddition reactions. Thus benzo[c]furan, isoindole (benzo[c]pyrrole) and benzo[c]thiophene all yield Diels-Alder adducts (137) with maleic anhydride. Adducts of this type are used to characterize these unstable molecules and in a similar way benzo[c]selenophene, which polymerizes on attempted isolation, was characterized by formation of an adduct with tetracyanoethylene (76JA867). 

Aminomethylindoles are particularly important synthetic intermediates. 3-Dimethyl-aminomethylindole (gramine) (153) and especially its quaternary salts readily undergo displacement reactions with nucleophiles (Scheme 60). Indole-2,3-quinodimethanes, generated from 2-methylgramine as shown in Scheme 61, undergo intermolecular cycloaddition reactions with dienophiles to yield carbazole derivatives (82T2745). 

Utilizing an alternate mode of Diels-Alder reactivity, Harman has examined the cycloaddition reactions of 4,5-T -Os(II)pentaammine-3-vinylpyrrole complexes with suitably activated dienophiles <96JA7117>. For instance, cycloaddition of the p-vinylpyrrole complex 58 with 4-cyclopentene-l,3-dione, followed by DDQ oxidation affords 59, possessing the fused-ring indole skeleton of the marine cytotoxic agent, herbindole B. 

Both ( )-l-phenylsulfonyl and (5)-(+)-3-p-tolylsulfmyl -alk-3-en-2-ones can exhibit high diastereoselectivity in their reactions with vinyl ethers and styrenes, with the dienophile having a dominant influence on the stereochemical outcome <96T1205,96TL3687>. Indol-2-ylideneacetic acid esters can act as both dienophile and heterodiene in cycloaddition reactions in the latter case pyrano[3,2-h]indoles are formed <96SYN519>. 

Having an efficient total synthesis of the indole alkaloid vindoline in mind, the Boger group [47] developed a facile entry to its core structure using a domino [4+2]/[3+2] cycloaddition. Reaction of the 1,3,4-oxadiazoles 4-139 led to 4-140 in high yield and excellent stereoselectivity via the intermediates 4-141 and 4-142 (Scheme 4.29). 

Cyclic imidate esters, 2-ethoxypyrrolin-5-one and 2-ethoxy-1II -indol-3-one, undergo 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reactions with nitrile oxides, the reaction site being at the pyrroline C=N bond (317). Rigid and sterically congested pyrroline spiro compounds 148 demonstrate complete diastereofacial selection in site and regiospecific cycloaddition reactions with nitrile oxides to give products 149 (318). 

Nitrone cycloaddition reactions with alkynes have been widely used for the synthesis of imidazolidine nitroxides (736) and (737), containing chelating enam-ino ketone groups (821). Different heterocyclic systems were obtained, such as 3-(2-oxygenated alkyl)piperazin-2-ones (738) (822), also compounds containing the isoxazolo[3,2-i]indole ring system (739) (823) and a new class of ene-hydroxylamino ketones- (l )-2-( 1-hydroxy-4,4,5,5-tetraalkylimidazolidin-2-ylidene)ethanones (740) (824) (Fig. 2.46). 

Guertler et al. (1996) described a wide range of cycloaddition reaction between 2-vinyl indoles acting as heterodienes and cyclic or acyclic enamines bearing acceptor groups in (3 positions. The reaction was induced by the formation of 2-vinylindole cation-radicals through anodic oxidation. The synthesis of 4a-carbomethoxy-6-cyano-5,7-dimethylindolo[l,2-a]-l,2,3,4,4a,12a-hexahydro-1,8-naphthyridine can serve as an example (Scheme 7.24). 

Similarly, mono- and bicyclic 1,2-diazines tethered to indole dienophiles by only one alkylene chain 14 afford tetra-and pentacyclic condensed carbazoles 15. Unactivated pyridazines undergo these thermally induced [4+2] cycloaddition reactions only very sluggishly. However, the examples with the more activated electron-deficient pyridazines, especially pyridazine diesters and pyridazino[4,5-, pyridazindiones, demonstrate the synthetic usefulness of this strategy for the construction of polycyclic carbazoles (Equation 3) <2004T6495>. 

Dodd and co-workers (5) reported the first known synthesis of 11//-indolizino[8,7-h]indoles by the cycloaddition reaction of a nonstabilized ylide 21 and diethylacetylene dicarboxylate (DEAD). The azomethine ylide, formed by the alkylation of the 3,4-dihydro-p-carboline (22) with trimethylsilyl methyl triflate to the triflate salt, followed by in situ desilyation with cesium fluoride, underwent cycloaddition with DEAD at low temperature. The expected major cycloadduct 23 was isolated, along with quantities of a minor product 24, presumed to have been formed by initial reaction of the ylide with 1 equiv of DEAD and the intermediate undergoing reaction with a further equivalent of DEAD before cyclization. Dodd offers no explanation for the unexpected position of the double bond in the newly generated five-membered ring, although it is most likely due to post-reaction isomerization to the thermodynamically more stable p-amino acrylate system (Scheme 3.5). 

The furo[3,4-3]indoles undergo cycloaddition reactions with NPMI, maleic anhydride, and DMAD in the presence of -TsOH to give the fused carbazoles 125-129, products of the subsequent in situ ring-opening of the oxobridge of the intermediary cycloadducts (Scheme 12) <1996JOC6166>. 

Synthetic elaboration of indole derivatives using cycloaddition reactions. 159... 

Pyrroles and indoles can give a wide variety of cycloaddition reactions and this area has seen vigorous activity since 1990 because of the potential of methodology for the synthesis of complex indole alkaloids. The reactions of pyrroles with dienophiles generally follow two different pathways involving either a [4 + 2] cycloaddition or a Michael-type addition to a free a-position of the pyrrole ring. Pyrrole itself gives a complex mixture of products with maleic anhydride or maleic acid. 

Indole-2,3-quinodimethanes, generated from 2-methylgramine, undergo intermolecular cycloaddition reactions with dienophiles similar to that of (325) (82T2745). 

The 7r-electron excessive character of pyrrole and indole renders both systems extremely susceptible to electrophilic attack and the fused benzene rings of carbazole also undergo electrophilic substitution more readily than does an unsubstituted benzene ring. In contrast, the 2/7-isoindole system only survives intact during electrophilic substitution reactions under the mildest of conditions and the system is more susceptible to [ 4 + 2] cycloaddition reactions than is pyrrole. 1,1-Disubstituted IH-isoindoles generally undergo nucleophilic addition-elimination reactions across the 2,3-bond or yield products derived from an initial electrophilic attack at the 2-position. 

Analogous [ 4 + 2] cycloaddition reactions of DMAD with indoles would disrupt the aromatic character of the fused benzene ring. It is not unexpected, therefore, that indole reacts with two molecules of DMAD to give the dihydrocarbazole derivative (234), via an initial Michael addition reaction, followed by cycloaddition of DMAD to the vinylindole. Aromatization of the 1 2 adduct (234) normally yields the carbazoletetracarboxylic ester... 

Relatively few authenticated photoinduced concerted [w2 + w2] cycloaddition reactions involving pyrroles or indoles have been reported. The formation of many cycloadducts can be rationalized in terms of two-step thermally induced ionic mechanisms. 

With the exception of the photosensitized reaction of methyl acrylate with 1-benzoylindole to produce the four-membered ring adduct, with subsequent conversion into a benz[6]azepine, no other photoinduced cycloaddition reactions of indoles with alkenes have been reported (80 3403). 

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